1. Field of the Invention
The present invention mainly relates to a label printing apparatus for printing information on a label sheet on which a large number of labels having the standardized layout and shape, and the like are adhered.
2. Related Background Art
Identical index labels are often adhered to a large number of samples in, e.g., an exhibition. Strong demand has arisen for suitable filing using index labels corresponding to the kinds of information in diversification of information. In addition, the same information may be shared by a plurality of persons at a plurality of locations. Conventional labels of this type are handwritten to result in cumbersome operations and poor appearance.
In order to solve the above problems, there is provided a printing apparatus capable of efficiently printing the same contents at the upper and lower positions of a ruled label by properly selecting a printing direction (Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 1-178,948).
There is also provided a label printing apparatus for setting an input character count and an input line count to fall within one label and calculating a label count as an integer on one label sheet (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.61-175722).
There is further provided a label printer for automatically calculating a character size to a full-height, full-width size or a full-height, half-width size, so that characters can be printed within a predetermined label width (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-189276).
There is further provided a label printer capable of inputting a printing format of a label as a single slip and printing information on labels having different sizes (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-158072).
In the device of Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 1-178948, processing for properly printing information on one index label is described in detail, but no description is made for an operation for detecting the positions and sizes of a plurality of index labels and a control method of printing information on each label.
The prior arts described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 61-175722, 63-189276, and 62-158072 are associated with the way of properly printing information on one label, but not with the way of printing information on a large number of labels arranged on a label sheet.
In a conventional label printing apparatus, information is printed on each individual label with a character size designated beforehand. However, since the kinds of labels are several hundreds, the character size must be selected in accordance with the size of each individual label. In addition, the character size must be changed in accordance with the character count and line count of characters to be printed. An operation for setting these conditions is so cumbersome as to perform printing in accordance with the desired layout of a user.